The Decade in Pictures: Favourites from 2010 - 2019


Welcome to my tribute for the decade 2010 — 2019. If you're stuck indoors for the foreseeable future, I hope my photos give you a window on the better times, when things we once took for granted weren't fraught with danger. I can't include every photograph, but if there's any images you feel I have omitted, there's plenty more over on my Flickr page.

2010 - Friston Forest, Seven Sisters, Chattri in Snow, Christmas in Brighton, Frank and Magnus Agugu.

 Friston Forest in Autumn

Seven Sisters

Night picture of the Chattri in December Snow

 Frank

 Magnus Agugu

2011 - Brighton Beach in Fog, Herring Gulls on Brighton Beach and Adder in Friston Forest.

 Brighton Beach - Low Tide and Sea Fog

Feeding Frenzy on Brighton Beach - BEST VIEWED LARGE

 Adder in Friston Forest

 2012 - Stanmer Down, Roe Deer in Poppies, Hove Beach, Brighton Starlings and the Moon Crescent.

 Golden Hour - Stanmer Down, South Downs

 Roe deer

Brighton Beach, Spring Tide

 Starlings

 Star-ti-ling Sunset

 Fly me to the moon

 2013 - Uncoiling Ferns, Falmer Poppies, Roe Deer in Buttercups and Large White Butterfly.

Uncoiling Ferns

Poppies in the Red Zone

 Wanna Make Something Of It?

 Cabbage White Butterfly

 2014 - Beachy Head, Starlings and West Pier, Guillemot Rescue, South Downs, Leaping Roe Deer, Fallow Deer and Marbled Whites.

The Landscape is Changing

 Starling Murmuration and West Pier, in a Hail Storm

 The Bird and the Bystanders

Y-Front

 Leaping Roe Deer

 Rush

 Marbled White, female and male

 2015 - Roe Deer, Beech Forest, South Downs, High Weald, Autumn Woodland, Brighton Beach and Brighton Starlings.

Roe Deer Buck in Ancient Woodland

 Vermouth and Lime

 South Downs National Park

 Wealdenglow

 Autumn Forest Glade

 Parallel Lines

Starling Murmuration and Sunset

 Blurmuration

 2016 - High Weald, South Downs, West Sussex Bluebells, Abbot's Wood Bluebells, High Weald Forest, Roe Deer and Marbled White.

Wealdenblur

 Shimmer

 Return to the Fold

 Bluebell Woodland, West Sussex

 Bluebells, Abbots Wood

 High Weald Mist

 Roe deer in Forest Glade

 Marbled White on Red Clover

 2017 -  Valle de Tena, Spain and High Weald in Autumn.

 Valle de Tena

 Sunset in an Autumn Woodland

 2018 - South Downs Gate, Roe Deer, Common Spotted Orchids, Marbled White, Six-spot Burnet Moths, Fly Agaric and High Weald Rocks.

Gate on the South Downs

Bambi in the Buttercups

Roe Buck Side Portrait

The Long Stare

Curious baby Roe deer
Common Spotted Orchids
Marbled White

Six-spot Burnet Moths

Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)

Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)

Autumn Cliff Edge

2019 - Roe Deer, Micheldever Bluebells, West Sussex Bluebells, Wild Campion Meadow, Roe Deer Couple, Doe, Chalkhill Blues, Peacock Butterfly and High Weald in Autumn.

Roe Deer in Bluebell Woodland

Micheldever Bluebells

West Sussex Bluebell Wood and Stream

High Weald Bluebell Woodland

Wild Campion Meadow

Roe deer buck and doe

Roe Deer Doe

Chalkhill Blues

Peacock butterfly on buddleia

Autumn Woodland in November

Autumn Woodland, East Sussex

Comments

Mark Nicolaides said…
Hi Alan, Just seen this today. Thanks for putting up your photographs. You've got quite a collection here; of course, my own personal favourite are the images featuring roe deer! Whilst I was moving down the images, I was kind of expecting to see a picture of that young buck you photographed in 2018. He was such a confiding deer (if I remember correctly) and such a lovely looking buck. Anyway, I hope all is going well with you and all the best for the next decade! Mark
10 January 2020 at 17:43
Alan MacKenzie said…
Hello Mark, great to hear from you! Your wish has been granted - I've added a couple of images. He was quite a buck. I enjoyed four close encounters with him over three visits and managed to sit in the grass, just 20 metres from him. He even dozed off! As you've probably seen yourself, there are some particularly tolerant bucks, usually present during the rut, when they have a territory to defend. Maybe testosterone levels play a part? I met another (mature) buck at a different site, in early May last year and he was quite docile, even as I stood in the open nearby. He even lost interest and began eating oak leaves. By mid-summer, the same buck was very aggressive, shouting and gesturing at me like a thug, rubbing his antlers in ferns and barking for over 10 minutes. Maybe if testosterone levels are high, but not too high, the buck will instead be less fearful and more confident to the point of being slightly complacent, like the young buck?
10 January 2020 at 22:20
Mark Nicolaides said…
Hello Alan, When I mentioned about that lovely, confiding buck, I didn't expect to see him appear in your collection, but, now that he is there, it is good to see him once again - he is so cute, like only a young roe deer can be! Anyway, thinking about your encounters with that mature buck last year... As you know, roebucks are most aggressive in the mid-summer, in fact, their aggressive testosterone levels peak just before the rut. When the adult buck was displaying to you, his male hormone levels were clearly very high. The displaying (ie rubbing his antlers on the ferns) was a function of his testosterone levels and his shouting (ie barking) was probably a function of his need to control his own space (ie be aggressive) and also a sign that he didn't know exactly what you was, partly because of his likely preoccupation at the time with other roe deer (the does for mating and the need to expel other bucks because of competition). (I've noticed that when I get to know 'new' roe deer, they tend to bark far more frequently than they do when they've habituated themselves to my presence - in fact, for roe that are very familiar with my presence, barking is virtually non-existent.) It is likely to be this preoccupation with other roe deer that partly explains why it's possible to approach roe deer in the period in and around the rut, when at other non-breeding times, they can be very flighty. The tolerance displayed by that young buck, could well be due to youthful naivety and lack of life experience, rather than testosterone levels. Anyway those are just my thoughts, for they're worth, I think we've still got a lot to learn about the roe deer, before any of us can say anything for certain; there's so much conflicting 'evidence' out there. If you're interested, there's an article on the deer website (called roe deer mating part 1 - the males' territorial behaviour) which does contain some other information. Look forward to seeing more of your roe deer photographs. Mark
11 January 2020 at 07:18
Alan MacKenzie said…
Thank you, Mark. I bought a teleconverter just before Christmas - the Canon EF 1.4x MKIII, giving an extra 200mm on my 500mm lens. It doesn't degrade the sharpness too much. The reach was far too long for the starling murmurations, but it will become useful for the Roe deer. One of the things I like about your photos is that the deer are behaving naturally and not staring back at the camera. I hope to achieve this myself later in the spring.
13 January 2020 at 18:31
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